Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs officially announced at the end of a press conference held on Friday, that the iPhone 4 will be making its way to Canadian cellphone retailers on July 30th, 2010. He also mentioned that free Bumper cases will also be given to those who require them.

It has already been confirmed that Telus Mobility, Bell Canada, and Rogers Wireless will all be selling the iPhone 4, with or without a signed 3-year contract.

The iPhone 4 in comparison to last year’s model; the iPhone 3GS, is worth every penny you may or may not decide to invest into it. The new 3.5-inch, 640×960 pixel “Retina” display is intensively eye appealing. For those of you that do not understand these geek terms, lets just say that the resolution on the iPhone 4 is more clear than the human eye can even capture. Not only so, but the screen itself is apparently much more scratch-resistant than last year’s model.

If you’re still not sure if you want to invest in the new iPhone 4, here are a few video’s that may get you even more interested:

• iPhone 4 Commercials
• iPhone 4 Details Video
• July 16th Press Conference Video

Sources: itbusiness, softpedia

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We do not know anything about the Apple Event that is scheduled to go down later this morning, September 9th, at 10 a.m., but I know as much as you do that it is something we Apple fanatics are pumped to see.

I’m sure that a ton of you that have heard the rumor about an upcoming Apple Tablet are pretty pumped to hear if this rumor turns out to be true or not, too. I know I am. An iPod the size of my computer screen would be just awesome… Okay, maybe not the full size of my monittomoror, but a good 12 – 15 inch screen would suffice. (My monitor is 22 inches, and I would despise carrying around a 22 inch tablet.)

Although there is no full-proof information to roll on, there are always rumors that have been rolling around Silicon Valley that make us bunch of hopefuls happy. Of course, it’s never a good thing to hear a rumor three or four months prior to an Apple event, only to find out that the superior rumor turns out to fall on false pretenses. Never a good thing.

With that said, here are the rumors that we’ve got to roll on until later on this morning.

An Apple Tablet / iPad - This has been rumored for about a year now, if not more. It is said that Apple may be in the works on a touch-screen 10 inch tablet, which in other words is basically an iPod Touch, brought up to scale, literally. It would be best used to play games from the App Store, watching movies on the go, and surfing the Internet. Guesses on the price tag for this rumored-to-be-upcoming product are ranging between $500 and $700. To poor a little gasoline on the fire, it has been confirmed by several overseas parts manufacturers in places like Taiwan.

3rd Gen iPod Touch with Camera – I’ve been hearing a lot about this one, and have actually seen some fuzzy pictures of what seemed to be realistic enough to be true, but heck, you never know these days as to what is true and what isn’t. It is apparent that Apple has put in a large order for camera modules. These cameras are rumored to be making their way into the latest version of the iPod touch and oddly enough, the latest iPod nano as well. Making this rumor sound even more true than any other, manufacturers of iPod cases have confirmed this by leaking some of their camera-friendly iPod cases. Keep in mind however, that it is being said there are some bad parts that may cause a delay in the release of these products, which may in turn bring Apple to the thought of not mentioning these upcoming products at this morning’s event.

iTunes 9 – A ninth version of Apple’s popular iTunes software is said to be hitting Internet waves later today, or at least being announced anyway. It is being said that there will be Blu-ray support, and intergration with a number of popular services including Twitter, Facebook, and Last.fm. We’ll just have to wait and see if these inclusions have turned out to be true, but I do suspect that iTunes 9 will be mentioned at the event later this morning.

Ringtone Downloads via iTunes – This would be smart on Apple’s part, seeing as there are an incredible load of people using iPhones in today’s day and age. Millions upon millions of potention ringtone downloaders and downloadees. Although it is quite simple to create your own ringtone on the iPhone itself, it is still a great possibility that Apple has attempted to make it easier for those whom are not in the know-how, or don’t want to even try making their own ringtones. I expect ringtones will be available on the cheap, if they are even incorporated into the latest version of iTunes at all.

Adios iPod Classic – It would be common sense for Apple to remove the iPod Classic line from store shelves now that we’ve got the iPhone and iPod Touch available to us for a fair price. Although the iPod Touch still doesn’t hold nearly as much as the iPod Classic is capable of, I’m sure this number will rise soon enough, jumping to 64GB’s and 128GB’s within the next year or so. It would be best if the iPod Classic was brought to its grave, with a great price drop on all items still left on store shelves to this day.

An iPod Nano with a Touchscreen – Apple is enjoying their use of touchscreen hardware. It is being rumored that it may be announced later this morning that an iPod Nano with a touchscreen may become available to the mass public. Although I doubt this is a true rumor, you really never know.

Cocktail – This is the first I hear of this format, but apparently there are rumors going around that Apple may be working on a new music format, Cocktail, which it developed to combat against CMX, a new format being introduced by Sony, Warner, Universal, and EMI. Both formats will incorporate artwork, linear notes, lyrics, and videos. One thing that makes downloading music via iTunes better than downloading illegally via BitTorrent, is the fact that you are almost always guaranteed the correct song titles and album covers, where as when downloading via BitTorrent, or otherwise, your chances of downloading a song with this correct information is highly unlikely.

iPhone OS 3.1 – It is more than likely that Apple will introduce this new operating system for download to your iPhone, or at least mention something of it to say the least. iPhone OS 3.1 is currently in beta, which features new video APIs, speed improvements, and MMS enabled by default. Phenomenal news for a lot of you.

The Return of Steve – It is more than likely that Mr. Jobs will be showing his face at this morning’s event. Steve hasn’t appeared on stage at any prior Apple events since this time last year. It is known however, that Steve Jobs has been spotted at the Apple Cupertino headquarters more than once since his announcement of a temporary leave.

It won’t be long now before we find out which of these hopeful rumors are indeed true, and which one’s we’ll have to either wait another year for, or just lose hope for entirely.

via Gear Log

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App uses HealthMap technology; allows individuals to track, report local outbreak information.

[Reuters] BOSTON, Sept. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A new iPhone application, created by researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab, enables users to track and report outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as H1N1 (swine flu), on the ground in real time. The application, “Outbreaks Near Me,” builds upon the mission and proven capability of HealthMap, an online resource that collects, filters, maps and disseminates information about emerging infectious diseases, and provides a new, contextualized view of a user’s specific location – pinpointing outbreaks that have been reported in the vicinity of the user and offering the opportunity to search for additional outbreak information by location or disease.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090901/DC68935)

Additional functionality of Outbreaks Near Me is the ability to set alerts that will notify a user on their device or by e-mail when new outbreaks are reported in their proximity, or if a user enters a new area of activity.

“We hope individuals will find the new app to be a useful source of outbreak information – locally, nationally, and globally,” says HealthMap co-founder John Brownstein, PhD, assistant professor in the Children’s Hospital Informatics Program (CHIP). “As people are equipped with more knowledge and awareness of infectious disease, the hope is that they will become more involved and proactive about public health.”

The new application also features an option for users to submit an outbreak report. This will enable individuals in cities and countries around the world to interact with the HealthMap team and participate in the public health surveillance process. Users may take photos – of situations and scenarios of, and/or leading to, disease – with their iPhone and submit them to the HealthMap system for review and eventual posting as an alert on the worldwide map.

“This is grassroots, participatory epidemiology,” says HealthMap co-founder Clark Freifeld, a PhD student at the MIT Media Lab and research software developer at CHIP. “In releasing this app we aim to empower citizens in the cause of public health, not only by providing ready access to real-time information, but also by encouraging them to contribute their own knowledge, expertise, and observations. In enabling participation in surveillance, we also expect to increase global coverage and identify outbreaks earlier.”

HealthMap was founded in 2006 and mines the Internet – searching disparate data sources such as news reports, curated personal accounts, official alerts, blogs and chat rooms – to track and map infectious disease outbreaks. While the data have been shown to provide early information on new outbreaks, users are encouraged to interpret the data appropriately as it is drawn from both official and unofficial sources.

The HealthMap Web site (www.healthmap.org) averages 10,000 unique visits a day, including regular users from the World Health Organization, the CDC, and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. During the peak of H1N1 swine flu this spring, visits to the site rose substantially, with as many as 150,000 visitors coming to the Web site to search for information.

Outbreaks Near Me was developed with support from Google.org and is available at no cost for download in the iTunes App Store. For more information on Outbreaks Near Me, visit: http://healthmap.org/iphone.php.

Children’s Hospital Boston is home to the world’s largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, where its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. More than 500 scientists, including eight members of the National Academy of Sciences, 11 members of the Institute of Medicine and 12 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute comprise Children’s research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Children’s Hospital Boston today is a 396-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care grounded in the values of excellence in patient care and sensitivity to the complex needs and diversity of children and families. Children’s also is the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more information about the hospital and its research visit: www.childrenshospital.org/newsroom.

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Image via The iPhone Blog

Microsoft has officially announced that the next skin point release for their handheld operating system, Windows Mobile 6.5, will launch on Oct. 6 and include App Store Windows Marketplace for Mobile (catchy!) and MobileMe MyPhone services.

[The iPhone Blog] WMExperts asks the impertinent question:

Will Windows Mobile 6.5 be available for any phones on that date? Will we see new phones released with WinMo 6.5?

We shrug in sympathy. Typically it takes a while to go from release to manufacturers to release to consumers. What benefits the split platform strategy has in consumer choice, it lacks in speed to consumer market.

When it does arrive, WinMo 6.5 will support both physical and virtual keyboards, no-touch and touch screens (resistive only?!), GPS, accelerometer, high res cameras, and likely spinning, multihued beechball wheels of wait (our Macs sympathize).

That the same company can ship the Zune HD before Windows Mobile 6.5, however, still puzzles us. That they’re arguably shipping both years too late to be competitive… well, that just frustrates us no end.

Throw a couple billion at Windows Mobile 7, would you please, and get her out asap?

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The popular Napster streaming and download music service won’t be coming to Apple’s iPhone via the App Store per a mocoNews report. According to the story, a rep from Napster said the service, which would be offered at Best Buy stores, is not being sent out for Apple approval because of the high licensing fees involved which would force Napster to charge too much for its service.

[iPhone Alley] Some streaming apps offered by Apple are subject to $15 fees. Napster will instead offer browser-based streaming at m.napster.com on cell phones and it is working with music labels to lower this price point so it can offer the full mobile functionality on iPhones and other devices. The service is currently priced at $5 per month and like Napster’s cheapest regular subscription will include five DRM-free tracks users can keep.

Without a licensed iPhone app, users won’t be able to download the tracks straight to their handsets, but instead will need to sync them onto their phones through iTunes.

Customers who buy a non-Apple cellphone on contract at Best Buy will receive Napster free service for three months, which includes 15 songs they can download and keep.

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Wireless carrier China Mobile has confirmed that the company is still in talks with Apple about offering the iPhone in China even though rival China Unicom last week announced a distribution deal for the handset.

[iPhone Alley] According to Macworld, the talks between Apple and China Mobile, the world’s biggest carrier by subscribers, yet to reach a conclusion, as confirmed by a China Mobile spokeswoman on Tuesday. An Apple spokeswoman confirmed the company’s three-year distribution deal with China Unicom is not exclusive, but did not say if the company is in talks with other potential partners.

Rival China Unicom will offer the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, with the first handsets going on sale in the fourth quarter. China Mobile began iPhone negotiations with Apple two years ago, but China Unicom, which operates a 3G network compatible with the iPhone, became seen as the favorite for an iPhone deal in recent months.

One complication in China Mobile’s negotiations with Apple was the carrier’s plan for its own mobile application store served as a potential competitor with Apple’s App Store. Another was China Mobile’s use of a mobile standard for its 3G network that was domestically developed and is not compatible with current iPhone models..

The app store and 3G standard snags could remain in any talks. The China Mobile download store went online last month and supports handsets including “Ophones,” or devices that run a China Mobile operating system but have a layout very similar to an iPhone.

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Software developer Rockstar Games announced that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will arrive for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch handsets later this fall.

[iPhone Alley] According to Touch Arcade, the game, which is presently available for the Nintendo DS, follows the story of Huang Lee, a young Triad who travels to Liberty City after the mysterious death of his father.

“Chinatown Wars is a perfect match for the iPhone and iPod touch,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “We are very excited to bring this incredibly ambitious version of Liberty City, with this level of detail and immersive gameplay on Apple’s new gaming platforms.”

Specific release dates, system requirements and final pricing have yet to be announced, though the following gameplay footage of the Nintendo DS version can be seen below:

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While it’s apparent that Apple is at least trying to make its iPhone App platform easier to stomach for developers, the company is still not pleasing everyone.

[BusinessInsider] Digg engineer-turned-iPhone developer Joe Stump is the latest to write an angry, public rant to Apple. But his, unlike some others, is peppered with entertaining swear words! (It’s called “Pass the lubricant as we’re getting f—ed by Apple too.”)

Stump’s company Blunder Move makes an iPhone app called Chess Wars, which lets people play chess with their Facebook friends.

The app was plagued with problems since the beginning, but Apple accepted an update, Stump writes. But there were still problems, so Stump issued another update. And now it’s been about six weeks, and Apple hasn’t done anything.

“Apple are equal opportunity ass f—-ers,” he says, among other expletives.

That line won’t win anyone over at Apple, but if Stump’s claims are accurate, he doesn’t deserve the treatment he’s getting.

Apple boasts that the majority of apps go through without a hitch. In its recent filing to the FCC, it said 95% of apps are approved within 14 days of submission, and 80% are approved as originally submitted.

But clearly something is wrong here.

We obviously aren’t getting Apple’s side of the story in Stump’s rant. (We’ve reached out to Apple for comment, but don’t expect a response.) But if there are really severe bugs in Chess Wars that are causing terrible reviews, Apple at least owes Stump a real response — and owes its iPhone customers an app update.

This case is an exception rather than the rule. But it makes Stump look terrible. And it makes Apple look worse. Stump recently left Digg to start his new company, and will eventually need investors. Who would want to invest in a company that has to deal with this kind of crap?

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Psystar claims it’s just like Microsoft, Google in new antitrust lawsuit filed in Florida.

[ComputerWorld] Mac clone maker Psystar last week sued Apple for a second time, charging that it illegally ties the new Snow Leopard operating system to its hardware.

Psystar also asked a federal judge in Florida to rule that the small company has the right to purchase copies of Snow Leopard on the open market and use them to install Mac OS X 10.6 on the machines it sells.

“By tying its operating system to Apple-branded hardware, Apple restrains trade in personal computers that run Mac OS X, collects monopoly rents on its Macintoshes, and monopolizes the market for ‘premium computers,’” said Psystar’s lawsuit, filed last Wednesday. “Apple’s share of revenue in the market for premium computers — computers priced at over $1,000 — is currently 91%.”

Last month, retail market research company NPD Group estimated that Apple controls 91% of the $1,000-and-up market, a fact that got significant play in the media and on blogs.

The antitrust angle in the new lawsuit is a repeat of Psystar’s strategy of more than a year ago, when it accused Apple of violating the Sherman and Clayton Acts. A federal judge in California tossed out Psystar’s claims last November, however.

Psystar said that the situation with Snow Leopard is completely different.

“This case raises a wholly separate set of issues [from] those in Apple Inc. v. Psystar Corp…because that case is limited to Psystar computers running Mac OS X Leopard,” the company’s lawyer’s argued. “Both the technical mechanisms used by Apple to tie Mac OS X Snow Leopard to Macintoshes and the technology used by Psystar to get Mac OS X Snow Leopard to run on Psystar computers are new and different and not within the scope of the California litigation.”

Psystar asked the Florida court to award it treble damages and force Apple to stop tying Mac OS X to its Mac hardware in the operating system’s end user license agreement (EULA), as well as through technical tricks that check to see whether the computer starting Snow Leopard is a real Mac.

Last week’s filing spent most of 14 pages trying to convince the judge to fire a preemptive strike at Apple.

Continue reading here.

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On Friday, Apple shipped Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, their latest computer operating system (which is jailbreaker safe!), and for the first time focus wasn’t on fabulous new consumer-facing features, but on internal re-architecting, the (far too often quoted) refinements and enhancements.

[The iPhone Blog] Many of these advancements, as we’ve discussed before, were leveraged from work done for the iPhone version of OS X. QuickTime X, with its yellow trim bars and built-in sharing are an obvious example.

We’ve already seen Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard technology like Data Detectors cross-over to the iPhone, but with this newest, arguably greatest version of Mac OS X now on the market, what can we look forward too for the next generation(s) of iPhone OS X?

Better, faster, easier

The iPhone has already nailed the refined part, and no doubt Snow Leopard benefitted from the compression and other space-saving techniques. Likewise, the aforementioned Quicktime X (and we can’t help but notice — and crow a tad about — some iPhone inspired UI elements to go with it), as well as the touch input of Chinese characters came from the iPhone. What can we get in return?

The more nimble-finder, while we’d LOVE a way to access the iPhone file-system, doesn’t yet seem to be in Apple’s roadmap. Stacks, however — a way for a single dock icon to expand a fan or grid of enclosed apps — have already made an appearance in the Jailbreak community and given the continuing growth of apps yet confined space of the iPhone screen, it seems a logical bit of technology for Apple to move over.

Next generation technologies

It’s a bit early for 64-bit requiring RAM sizes on the iPhone (sigh), and iPhone security, with sandboxed apps and all, is fairly strong already. Likewise, Grand Central-style multi-core process packetization and dispatch may be a way off for our ARM internals (though who knows where Apple’s new PA Semi system-on-chips will take us, right?). Open CL, however, a technology that allows GPU’s to be used for general-computing, CPU-like tasks when they’re not painting pixels or flinging polygons, is something we’re definitely looking forward to. Not watching a moving or playing a game? Take that PowerVR chip and speed up everything else!

We’re not going to keep going on about QuickTime X, since we already have the H.264, hardware acceleration, trimming, the sharing, and the HTTP live streaming on the iPhone, along with voice recording courtesy of Voice Memo. However, the ability to record video not only off the iPhone 3GS camera, but screen recording as well would be appreciated, especially by those of us who cover iPhones and iPhone apps…

Accessibility

Yeah, we got this with the iPhone 3GS back in June as well, and while it isn’t the most widely covered of improvements, we applaud Apple for continuing to raise the bar, both for mobiles and for desktops.

Custom labels for poorly or unlabled screen elements would be a welcome update for the iPhone, however.

Exchange support

Okay, we got this first on the iPhone as well. We even have it better, as while the iPhone supports Exchange 2003, the Mac can only make do with Exchange 2007 or the the upcoming 2010. (We’re not sure why, but we feel like blaming MAPI for something and this’ll do).

And more…

We’d also like to see iPhone Spotlight beefed up to search inside apps that are developed to support the feature, and of course to remember recent searches. Also, syncing photos over from iPhoto, including the Faces and Places metadata, would be nifty to include in search criteria (so we see pictures of Steve Jobs if we search for him, for example.)

System-wide text substitutions, where (c) is replaced with © would be great.

iChat, of course, would be nice to see as a Apple-branded IM app!

Conclusion

Unlike Google or Microsoft, Apple using the same core for their desktop and mobile OS, means more band for their development buck, and more features for users. Win. Win. Since we’re still installing and getting used to Snow Leopard, we may have missed some more examples what else we just might see in future iPhone OS. If you’ve come across any others drop us a comment and let us know!

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Did AT&T get a sour apple when it snagged the iPhone?

[Wall Street Journal] Maybe. AT&T’s exclusive right to offer Apple’s smart phone over the past two years has attracted new customers, and at least initially enhanced the phone company’s image. But it is difficult to know whether those benefits are worth what have been some considerable costs, both short and long term.

For investors, and for federal regulators investigating such exclusivity deals, it is worth considering some factors. While AT&T has disclosed at least 10 million activations of iPhones since it became available in mid-2007, only about 40% of those were new …

To continue reading, you must subscribe to the Wall Street Journal.

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Jailbreakers, beware:  Apple would like you just to leave your iPhones alone, thank you very much.  Unless, of course, you feel like buying some new Apps.  Recent word says that the jailbreaking – i.e., the modifying of iPhone software for the sake of upgrades – your iPhone might actually just cause you problems.

[iPhone Auctions] Yeah, you.  In a recent U.S. copyright filing, Apple apparently claims that the jailbreaking of iPhone operating systems leads to problems in the AT&T network, probably helping to explain the general unreliability network users have experienced.  If “general unreliability” sounds a little harmless, keep in mind that Apple is also making the case that jailbreaking could make it possible for users to crash cell phone towers.

Of course, you can see why AT&T wouldn’t like this.  But there may be more to the story.  Apple’s comments apparently also noted that the altering of the baseband processor (BBP) of the Apple is what would allow people to crash the towers.  Maybe not so coincidentally, “unlocking” the iPhone in this manner would also allow consumers to use networks other than AT&T.

Maybe “unlocking,” and not jailbreaking, is simply bad for business.

Potential Problems with Jailbreaking

Though “jailbreaking” sounds like something you’d do with a prison and not with a phone, it’s a relatively common practice.  According to Apple, this is the problem, saying jailbreaking can lead to crashes, freezes, disruption of applications like YouTube, problems with security, and even a shorter battery life.

Apple’s claims about the disruption of the AT&T network mean that the problems with jailbreaking wouldn’t be restricted to your iPhone alone.  This has lead many frequent “jailbreakers” to wonder about the real impact of their modifications to Apple’s software.

The Great Jailbreaking Debate

As Dong Ngo of CNet notes, hearing that jailbreaking can give other people problems – not just the jailbreakers – isn’t exactly fun news.

But there is a debate within the iPhone community about the validity of jailbreaking.  Some people believe that, like tricking out a car, modifying software that you purchased is something that comes with your rights as a consumer.  Others believe that the problems aren’t worth the benefits.

It will be interesting to watch the progress of the iPhone and how Apple interacts with the users who like to modify its contents.  There’s no doubt that consumers will always be looking for as much freedom as possible.

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The concept that most drove the iPhone (and by extension the iPod Touch) above and beyond all smartphones or multimedia players was the ability to purchase and use apps within the device.  While cogitating on this as well as the hypothesized upgrades available in iTunes 9, a thought crossed my mind.

[What's on iPhone] Why isn’t it possible to play iPhone/iPod Touch games on iTunes itself?  It is already possible to watch video and listen to music via iTunes (even using the iPhone or iPod Touch as a remote). Granted, the iPhone or iPod Touch supports multitouch while the Mac and Windows operating systems currently do not, but I’m sure Apple imagineers could figure out a way around that.  Perhaps they could have the user simulate multitouch using the keyboard and mouse?

If Mac could do that, they could have a software-based gaming console on every Mac or PC to which it is downloaded and the delivery system to go with it.  Imagine if the Wii was given away for free and charged only a fraction of the current price per game (because delivery charges would be practically nothing).  Apple could sell apps without needing to sell the hardware that is currently needed for the apps to run.  I think the average consumer would go for that.  Would Steve Jobs?  I don’t know.

Of course, at this stage they couldn’t call the program “iTunes” anymore.  That name was invented when the iPod only played music and iTunes was its jukebox repository.  iTunes has become much more since then.  Apple would likely change it to some imaginative, esoteric name like iDea (“idea”, but with a capital “D”).  What name would you call it?

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While all of the attention this weekend was around the launch of Snow Leopard, Apple opened up three new retail stores; two new stores in the US and one in Germany.

[TUAW] First, the company opened a new store in Hamburg, Germany on Saturday, which is now Apple’s second store in Germany, after the store in Munich opened last December.

Second, there’s a new store in Dedham, Massachusetts at the Legacy Place shopping center. This store will be the ninth store in the state of Massachusetts.

Finally, Apple also opened up a new store at the Stonebriar shopping complex in Frisco, Texas. This store makes it the sixth store in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

If you live in or are near one of these areas, be sure to check out your new Apple Store. As always, we would love to hear your stories of your first visit or see your photos!

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Apple says it’s not to blame for a series of exploding iPods and iPhones, according to a report published on Friday. The company has been under fire, so to speak, for devices overheating and shattering across Europe and the U.K.

[Mac World] Sheesh… and you thought the data rates were bad.

Exploding iPhone Investigation:

This exploding iPhone business is no laughing matter: The European Union actually launched a formal inquiry last week after a teen in France said his girlfriend’s iPhone screen blew up without warning and sent a shard of glass into his eye. Witnesses told a local paper the phone began to “crackle and pop like a deep-fryer” (only, we assume, without the delicious smell).

The France incident wasn’t alone, either: It was preceded by a handful of other reports of exploding Apple devices in Europe and the U.K. In one instance, a man claimed Apple tried to keep him from talking by offering a full refund in exchange for his signature on a gag order. He reportedly refused, instead bringing the alleged smoking gun to the U.K.’s Times newspaper.

The Blame Game:

So if Apple’s not to blame for the detonating devices, who is? The company now says it’s the customers, claiming some sort of improper handling led to the explosions.

“In all cases, the glass cracked due to an external force that was applied to the iPhone,” a London-based spokesperson tells Bloomberg.

That explanation seems to contradict the statement by the teen from France, who’s quoted by the AP as saying his girlfriend’s phone “was not dropped and experienced no unusual shock” before its sudden combustion. (To be fair, applying some sort of “external force” could have been a “usual” occurrence for the couple. Interpret as you will.)

Either way, the investigation doesn’t appear to be over. Apple reps met with French government officials to talk about the complaints and “possible measures” that could be taken, the AP reports, and independent experts from the U.S. are said to be conducting further tests as well.

Of course, you could always just side with the satirists and point the finger at Apple’s “oppressive regime.” Hey, it’s your call.

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[Zdnet] “All right, buddy gimme the iPhone, credit cards and PIN numbers.”

“Yes, sir, here you are.”

“Now, get outta here.”

That was more or less the conversation in the appropriately named Pittsburgh neighborhood of Shadyside, home to an Apple store.

Back home, the victim grabbed his computer, started up MobileMe and tracked the thief down to Warmart.

Police apprehended the suspects – Bryant Rather (pictured), 22, Brent Ray Potter, 22, and Myron Knox, Jr., 22 – at Walmart, having bought a bunch of stuff with the stolen credit cards (just because you’re running up someone else’s credit doesn’t mean you should spend more than necessary).

Damn GPS! Hmm, if we put GPS into EVERYTHING then we’d put an end to all theft! Well, maybe not such a great idea. … Even so, look for Apple to sell a whole bunch more subscriptions to Mobile Me from this story. Maybe they’ll even reward this Pittsburgh man to thank him for the publicity. Say a $25 iTunes card?

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[The iPhone Blog] Facebook 3.0.1 for iPhone [Free - iTunes link], which fixes some of the bugs found in Facebook 3.0 (others are reportedly being fixed on the Facebook backend servers), is now being served piping hot and ready from the iTunes App Store.

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Touch Podium regulars, and new comers alike may have noticed a newly added sentence along the lines of “This websites has been put up for sale on so-and-so.” Well, I am happy to inform that I’ve had a change of heart, and Touch Podium is here to stay.

Not only am I NOT selling the website and all of its rights, but I am also starting to make posts on a much more frequent basis.

My 500 or so regulars will of noticed an incredible drop in postings within the last three or four months. The start of a new blog is to blame for this occurance. As much as I hate to inform, the iPod Touch and iPhone just don’t interest me personally as much as they used to a year ago. But this will not stop me from keeping Touch Podium updated on a bi-daily basis. That’s right. Touch Podium will be updated on a day, or bi-daily bases starting just recently.

A lot of hard work was put into starting this blog, and I just don’t have it in me to throw all of that away. Although the most recent addition to The Podium Network is taking up a lot of my spare time (that of which I have anyway), I will still make room for my first born; Touch Podium.

On another note, as unfortunate as it is, my business partner; Eric March, has decided that he would stop writing application reviews for Frapstr, meaning there will no longer be blog updates to The Free App Store Review (www.frapstr.com), another one of The Podium Network’s endeavors. To read more about the whole ordeal, have a look at the most recent (a.k.a. the last) post on Frapstr by Eric March himself.

For those whom have yet to have a peak at my most recent project, please do take a minute to check out Big Freakin’ News at www.bfn.im. I know, I know, “.im”, you say? “Doesn’t that stand for the Island of Maine?” Why yes, yes it does. But that didn’t stop me from getting a 5 character URL… and besides, .net and .com where already taken, as you would imagine. Feel free to let me know what you think by commenting any of the stories, or sending me an e-mail direct. One thing I’d like you to notice, is that I am hiring some staff, so if you’re at all interested, feel free to contact me about that. Yes, greedy plug, I know… Sorry, I couldn’t resist!

Cheers, my fellow readers.

Your Podium Network Founder,

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As has been discussed here ad nauseum, AT&T’s network has been stressed by the iPhone. Since the users of Apple’s device tend to use the internet more than owners of other smartphones, AT&T’s data network gets bogged down during peak periods.

[Ethiopian Review] Now, BusinessWeek has an article that attempts to explain why, after more than two years, AT&T has been seemingly unable to keep up with the demand for bandwidth generated by the phone.

As writer Peter Burrows points out, the stakes are high:

The shortcomings leave AT&T under pressure to make its network iPhone-ready or risk losing its edge in smartphones. The company is almost sure to lose the exclusive partnership with Apple (AAPL), possibly as early as next year. That would open the door to AT&T losing millions of customers as iPhone owners depart to rivals such as Verizon Wireless. More important, AT&T would have wasted a golden opportunity to become the clear leader in the multibillion dollar market for wireless Web access. “Nobody is in the same boat we’re in,” says AT&T Chief Technology officer John Donovan. “We’re shaping the landscape for the whole industry, and I relish the opportunity to be the first to figure it out.”

Odds are against AT&T. Many of its 60,000 cell towers need to be upgraded. That could cost billions of dollars, and AT&T has kept a lid on capital spending during the recession — though it has made spending shifts to accommodate skyrocketing iPhone traffic. Even if the funds were available now, the process could take years due to the hassle and time needed to win approval to erect new towers and to dig the ditches that hold fiber-optic lines capable of delivering data. And time is ticking. All carriers are moving to a much faster network standard called LTE that will begin being deployed in 2011. Once that transition has occurred, the telecom giant will be on a more level playing field.

Simply put, AT&T’s network is so vast and the process of upgrading and adding equipment so complex (including getting approval to erect new towers and dig trenches for fiber-optic cable) that it’s impossible for the telecom giant to move quickly. Yes, it’s done what it can in adding capacity and switching on a new radio frequency that improves signals inside buildings. But is it enough?

The addition of the 850 MHz band has made a difference here in Houston, where I’m seeing much better signals indoors. In fact, my desk at the Houston Chronicle used to be a serious AT&T dead zone — I had to swivel my chair in a specific direction just to make a call — but now I get a solid four bars most of the time. And this is even after the downtown building has been swaddled in faux-marble aluminum siding, effectively turning it into a Faraday cage.

On the other hand, I heard via e-mail last week from an iPhone owner who can’t make calls from inside his building at 1201 Louisiana unless he turns off his 3G service. He’s had this problem with two different iPhones.

If you’re an AT&T wireless subscriber with a smartphone (regardless of whether it’s an iPhone) what’s been your experience lately? Are things better or worse for you?

- By Dwight Silverman | Chron

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Ars Technica reports that Apple resellers are currently reporting low stocks of most iPod models, and no additional shipments of the existing models are reported to be available. Additionally, resellers report that the stock-keeping units (SKUs) for all existing models have been classified as discontinued.

[Mac Rumors] The current line of iPods is on its last legs, lending more evidence that an iPod refresh is just around the corner. Sources from Apple Authorized Resellers have confirmed to Ars that current stock is dwindling (if not completely gone in some cases) and that no more of the current models are coming in. Additionally, all current SKUs are being discontinued, with no word on when new models may arrive.

Apple has been rumored to be holding a music-focused media event on Wednesday, September 9th, at which many Apple followers expect the company to introduce new iPod models as it has done at similar September events in previous years.

A number of rumors have pointed to the inclusion of digital cameras in the iPod touch, iPod nano, and even the iPod classic lines, but there have been no claims of changes to Apple’s diminutive iPod shuffle, which saw a complete design overhaul in March of this year.

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This one caught us by surprise, but it comes from a source that has always been 100% reliable: Not only Apple may be working on a 10-inch tablet, but also in 13″ and 15″ models, one running Mac OS X.

[Gizmodo] This source claims that the two touchscreen prototypes—made of aluminum, but on the shape of big iPhones—were in a factory in Shenzuen, China. One of them “was running Mac OS X 10.5.” When I asked, the source didn’t know if these were built for demonstration purposes, or if they were preproduction units. The company has a tight relation with Apple but “it’s not FoxConn.”

As I said before, with everyone focused on the 10-inch tablet with iPhone OS, this sighting is quite surprising. It is possible that Apple may be just exploring other form factors, and these two models may or may not end being future products.

According to rumors, Apple is in the final stages of developing the Apple wet dream, a 10-inch tablet allegedly running the iPhone OS. Several sources claim that Steve Jobs—back in Campus—is now personally driving this project. However, until now there has been no reliable rumors on 13″ and 15″ models, much less one running full Mac OS X.

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We may be getting closer to a hardware version of hands-free navigation for iPhone users. The FCC has released several documents plus photos of a planned TomTom Car Kit for the iPhone.

[Cult of Mac] The kit (pictured above) includes a mount enabling the iPhone to be positioned either vertically or in landscape mode. Engadget also writes the kit includes Bluetooth and a dedicated SiRFstar GPS chipset.

The announcement may be welcome news to iPhone navigators who hoped an actual TomTom product would follow an iPhone app released earlier this month. The app, priced at $99.99 for U.S. and Canadian iPhone owners, competes with the likes of CoPilot Live ($34.99), Sygic Mobile Maps ($39.99), AT&T’s Navigator ($10 monthly fee) and Google Maps.

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According to a patent filing, Apple is working on speech-to-text technology for its iPhone and iPod product lines. Speech recognition could be the holy grail for data entry and retrieval on mobile devices, especially as they continue to shrink in size.

[InformationWeek] The Baltimore Sun found the patent and has included a diagram of how the system would work when composing an email.

There is a lot of engineering speak in the filing, but I could decipher a few tidbits of info – that and I’ve seen this stuff on Star Trek so I know how it is supposed to work. It seems the speech recognition module they are working on would be able to not only handle text but non-speech data as well, such as punctuation.

To varying degrees, this has been tried before on mobile devices. The most rudimentary are the voice snippets you can record into your phone for a few of your favorite contacts. One of the better speech tools for phones is byMicrosoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and called Voice Command. It is really pattern recognition. You can say “Call Sally Jones at work” and it will search through your contacts and find a name that matches what your digitized voice said and dials the number. You don’t have to train it or record her name before you can use it. You can also ask it the time, battery level, signal strength, upcoming appointments and more. It is rather limiting though and there is no way to compose an email with it or tell it to do anything outside of dozen or so tasks it was written for.

I recall one demo by Bill Gates a few years ago where he spoke into a Pocket PC (that is what they were called way back when) and got nearly flawless text recognition out of it, but the trick there was the voice data was converted to digital then sent via wireless to a powerful server which did the heavy lifting. It returned the text to the screen. In the day’s GPRS networks, it just wasn’t feasible, which is why he was using WiFi. Today with 3G networks, it is more realistic, but you have the issue of who is going to pay for the server to potentially service hundreds of thousands of voices simultaneously?

It seems to me from perusing the patent that the speech recognition module is a separate chip or other such hardware that will be in the device that will be purpose built for this, much like a video card offloads graphics from your compute’s main processor. If Apple can pull this off, they will have a huge win on their hands.

I just hope they put an altimeter on it that cuts the module off at 10,000 feet so I don’t have to listen to the guy next to me on a cross country flight dictate a research paper into his phone.

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That little sketch above, from the Dropbox Blog post on this, is exactly how I felt when I spotted this news. Dropbox’s iPhone app has been submitted to the App Store – last week – and is just awaiting approval.

[JAiPB] I’ve used a number of online backup / file sync apps on the desktop, and none has been as simple and pleasant to work with as Dropbox. I love how easy it is to use, and can’t wait to see their iPhone app in action.

In the meantime, here are some of the app’s features:

* Access your Dropbox on the go – All the contents of your Dropbox are available for viewing. You can even stream music and movies in your Dropbox straight to your iPhone.
* Download files for offline viewing – Add files to your ‘Favorites’, and they’ll be accessible at any time.
* Take photos and videos and sync them to your Dropbox – Take a photo from your iPhone and email its public link to a friend in less than a minute.
* Share links to files in your Dropbox – What? Any file in your Dropbox? Srsly?
* Photo galleries – Just like the ones online.

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